Life and Death
by Ghost501
Summary: Since Megaman Battle Network 2, Bass's only concern has been fighting the strong. But there is one fighter who he has never been able to defeat, Megaman. As they prepare for the final battle, Megaman begins to think about deletion. It's not like he hasn't been killed before, but what does Roll think about it?
1. Chapter 1

Alright, folks another Megaman fic. But some update information.

Project DAC, PJO fans, will be out soon. I'm in the final stretch for revisions. It will be out on a Friday. The next fanfic I release with be Project DAC. Check my profile for more details.

Megaman fans, yes I'm working on Project 7 but its going to take some time seeing as how when I was working on the outline it equaled somewhere around 10 pages in Word. Yeah, it's going to be big. Also, as I have mentioned, I have made a community to gather the Megaman Battle Network Stories that live on Fanfiction. If you want to become a staff member, please PM me.

Okay, now that the boring stuff if done with, enjoy this fic. It's not a one shot! But, I'm not giving you all the other chapter now. The bottom of the story will have the next update. Thanks for reading!

* * *

Megaman looked at his chip folder one more time. Today was the big day.

The officials had decided that Bass was becoming too much of a problem. Over the past two years, he had come back up to the surface and been deleting top official navis. The officials thought he was deleting them for their power, but couldn't be to sure. After all, these top navis knew many secrets and who really knew what Bass was trying to achieve. But there was one thing that everyone could agree upon.

For years, Bass had been claiming power only to have been defeated time and time again by the blue bomber. It was only a matter of time before the independent navi would go insane from losing all the time. Bass wouldn't stop challenging Megaman until he was deleted and as long as he had Lan on his side, the future for Bass's goal seemed rather dark. But if Bass started to come after the officials, there was no telling what he could learn to further enhance his power.

Megaman sighed as he rubbed his eyes. Despite their normal adrenaline rush for their battles, Lan and Megaman weren't looking forward to this fight.

Bass was extremely powerful and although they had defeated him many times before, they often escaped by the skin of their teeth. Megaman was not interested in seeing just what Bass had up his sleeve now. Although the navi had been deleting navis on the surface for two years, the Hikari brothers themselves had not seen the elusive navi in four years, a lot of time for Bass to grow.

Megaman eyes fell upon a Bamboo Blade chip. That might go well with some of the other swords. Megaman put the chip to the side and went back to finding more defensive chips. Specifically, he was looking for some auras. But Lan didn't have too many of those. Mainly, it was only Life Auras, which Bass could easily destroy.

By the time it was 5:00, he had been working for five hours and had gotten only ten out of thirty chips in the folder. Three Program Advances and one recovery chips. He put his head in his hands, tired of going through so many chips. He wasn't interested in dying, not yet. But if this folder wasn't perfect, Bass would have no problem deleting him. Megaman looked back at his chip library and continued sifting through the chips.

* * *

Mayl knew Lan was distracted the second he walked into her house. He had barely paid attention during class today and here he was blatantly ignoring her when they were supposed to be working together on a history project. The red haired girl called his name several times, but the boy didn't respond. It was almost as if he was stuck in a trance.

Finally, Mayl walked right up to the boy and yelled right in his ear. Lan flailed in the air, his hand almost hitting her, and fell right out of the chair he was sitting in. Shaking his head, he looked back at the annoyed girl.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"That was for ignoring me all day! We've got to finish this thing for Monday and that's in two days! If you just focus for just the next hour we can be done and you can go back into wonderland!" she glared at the boy. She hadn't meant to sound so harsh, but she had been annoyed that Lan's procrastination could affect her grade.

"Mayl, we've got until Monday to present. The paper is already done and we've got two days to work on our presentation."

"That's what you said last week. And guess what, we barely got the paper finished last night! I don't know about you, but I don't function well with only three hours of sleep!" Mayl could almost feel her eye twitching.

"Mayl, maybe you should calm down a bit." Roll said quietly from her PET. Even though she loved her operator dearly; sometimes, Mayl scared her when she got mad. An angry Mayl was not one to be messed with.

The girl took a breath and looked back at Lan, "Sorry. Lack of sleep talking. I didn't mean to yell. I just don't want us to fail history. This project is a huge part of our grade."

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, Mayl. I've just got a lot on my mind right now."

"Oh, like what?"

Lan opened his mouth but then considered the parties present. He could talk to Mayl about it sure; but Roll was still here. Megaman hadn't talked to her yet. Although he had tried several times, he had always decided not to. It wasn't Lan's place to tell Roll. He wouldn't betray his brother like that.

"Nothing. Just thinking about netbattles. Look, I've got to go. I left Megaman back at home and I just remembered that I need him to help me with some Physics homework I have. See you later!"

Before Mayl could even have a chance to talk to Lan, he packed up his stuff and left her house. Mayl turned her attention to her PET.

"Is it just me, or is he hiding something?"

"Okay, so I wasn't the only who thought that." Roll said.

"Hey, maybe Megaman might know something. After all, Lan never leaves him at home."

"I'll go talk to him. Let's just hope he's not as uptight about secrecy as his brother."

* * *

When Roll entered Megaman's homepage, she knew that something was definitely up. Megaman was staring at a chip folder screen. But, he seemed almost oblivious to the world. She was pretty certain that if she held a party in his homepage with every navi in ACDC town at that moment, he wouldn't have noticed. As she walked closer to the navi, she realized that Lan was nowhere to be found.

_'He must not be back yet. Good, that's give me some alone time with Mega.'_ She thought.

Roll put a hand on Megaman's shoulder and the blue navi flew two feet in the air. He had even startled Roll with his sudden movement.

"Roll! Don't do that to me!" he said, trying to catch his breath.

Ignoring his complaint, the pink navi peered behind him to see that he was creating a new chip folder, "What's with the new folder?"

"Oh, just thought the old one could use some work."

"Use some work? Mega, you and Lan defeated Protoman within fifteen seconds with the old folder."

"Yeah, but you can never be too careful you know," he laughed nervously. He really hadn't been expecting Roll. For the past week he had been thinking of a good way to tell her that he was challenging Bass, but he never got as far as telling her.

"I guess. I mean, you have that Dark Shadow guy running around. Can't believe he's still deleting navis after two years. You would think that the officials would have dealt with him by now."

"Yeah…" Megaman paused. The officials had coined the term Dark Shadow as to not scare the navis any more than they already were. Bass was feared among the navis due to his power. To tell them that he was running around on the surface deleting navis would cause a huge panic.

Megaman gulped. How was he supposed to tell her that he could possible die today? But in the midst of his confusion, finally, he got an idea. "Do you ever think about deletion, Roll?"

"Huh?"

"Do you ever think of deletion? I mean, we're net navis. We have to face death a lot more often than our NetOps. Sometimes, I just wonder if I'm going to go crazy from constantly being in danger of dying. Sure we have back up data, but still."

"Of course I think about deletion," she said. Although it was an odd question, she had a feeling that this question was really important for Mega. And if it would help him, she would gladly answer it, "I can't think of a navi who hasn't once feared for their life. Sure we can be backed up, but the idea is still crazy. To be living one second and the gone the next; it's scary.

"I would love to say you get used to it, but I don't think anyone does. We just choose to ignore it because we're too afraid to let it consume our thoughts. I mean if all we thought about was our deletion, then we really wouldn't be able to do our jobs right. Every time our NetOps would send us out to do something, we wouldn't be able to go.

"But, I think we just learn to trust each other. We trust our NetOps. They love us and we love them. As long as they're alive, and they have a good heart, they won't let us get deleted. It's like having a mortal guardian angel."

She looked back at Megaman. His green eyes seemed to almost yell the words thank you as she stared into them. The blue bomber nodded as he took in her words.

Seeing that she probably wasn't going to get any information out of him and he seemed fairly busy with his folder, she turned to leave.

"Roll, wait!" he said and grabbed her hand.

"Yes?"

"Here, I just wanted you to have this." She stared down at the gift Megaman had given here. It was chip data…for HubBatch.

"Mega, this is a…"

"A Giga chip. I know."

"No, I mean. Yeah, it's a Giga chip but this is HubBatch. This chip hasn't been seen in four years. Not only that, but it's extremely powerful. Don't you need it?"

"Let's just say, Lan doesn't know that I starting hoarding certain chips in secret once I hear news of a new PET coming. And as for the chip, I just want you to have it."

Then, before she could even thank him, he kissed her. Roll didn't know what to do. It wasn't that she hadn't wanted him to kiss her—that was only her dream for the past five years—but she hadn't expected him to be so sudden about it. Before she could even respond, he pulled away.

"Mega…I…"

"He's Megaman! Come on, we're got to finish that folder!" Lan said, as he entered the room.

"Sorry, brother's back." The blue navi said. With Lan here, there wouldn't be any time for personal talk.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Roll said in a tiny voice and jacked out of the homepage.

* * *

When she got back to her homepage, she said nothing to Mayl. She just sat down on the floor and thought about her conversation with Megaman. As she began to return back from her little world, she touched her lips. Had he really kissed her?

"ROLL!" Mayl yelled.

"Huh. What?"

"Finally. What's with everyone ignoring me today?"

"I'm sorry. I guess I was just gone for a minute."

"I'll say. You were out for seven minutes. I thought the whole neighborhood could hear me!" Mayl paused and took a breath, "So, did you get anything out of Megaman?"

"No, but Mega was really weird. First, he and Lan are working on a new chip folder and then he asks me do I think about deletion."

"That's weird. Not only the deletion bit, but didn't they defeat Chaud and Protoman under fifteen seconds with their old folder?" Mayl remembered when that was all Lan could talk about only a month ago.

"That's what I asked. But Mega dismissed that really quickly. So we talked for a bit and then…" she trailed off. Now, Mayl was curious.

"Then what?"

"Then, Mega gave me his HubBatch chip."

"You mean the Giga chip? I heard almost no one has it. No one but…"

"Lan and Mega. They should've lost this data whenever they updated, but Mega's become a bit of a hoarder now. He just said he wanted me to have… then he…um"

"What? What else did he do?"

"He kissed me."

"WHAT?" Mayl was reeling now. It was a common known fact to everyone but the two navis themselves, that Megaman and Roll both had serious crushes on the other. But this was the first time, that one of them had acted upon their feelings. More than that, it was Megaman who had acted first when Roll was the one who was the most forward out of the two.

"Then what happened?!" she demanded.

"Then Lan came back and told Megaman that they had to work on their chip folder."

"That's really weird. Didn't Lan say that he was going back home to do Physics homework?"

"Wait, you're right!"

Those boys were up to something. And she needed to find out what it was before he got into some serious trouble. Mayl looked outside her window and gaped at her luck. Lan was racing toward the train station, pretty quickly too. She contemplated going downstairs and catching him, but at the rate he was going that idea was gone out of the window.

She would just have to wait for him to come back and confront him then since he would probably field her calls as well. Mayl sat down on her bed and turned her attention to the sky. The sun was setting beautifully as it always did. Mayl closed her eyes and thought about the brunette who she called her first and only love.

'_Whatever it is Lan…please stay safe.'_

* * *

Update Chapter: Thursday (9/19/13) or Friday (9/20/13)

I would love to stay and chat more, but I just saw Bass running around here. He isn't happy that I barely managed to beat his BX form in Battle Network 6 last week. Ghost501 logging out!


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry guys, meant to put this up earlier but FanFiction was acting weird and I couldn't get on. Either way, here it is!

* * *

"Careful, Megaman. He could be anywhere." Lan said.

The two had raced to SciLab immediately after they were done with the folder. Lan had actually been a great help since the folder was all he could think about for the entire day.

Megaman nodded as he crouched in his hiding spot. The plan was simple: they would wait until Bass showed up while an official navi would play decoy. The navi's operator would jack the navi out before it was too late and Megaman and Lan would battle Bass.

Megaman couldn't help but think why Bass would target all these navis but not him. The official navis didn't have much. Sure, some of them were strong. But even though they were tough, most weren't even customized. So why would Bass targeting them. It was very much against his code.

Sure enough though, the cloaked navi took the bait.

"Are you the one I'm searching for? Do you possess the codes I seek?" a voice spoke as the SciLab area began to warp.

"Hurry, jack him out now! Come on, Megaman, let's go!" Lan yelled.

Just before a blade came down on the navi, his NetOp jacked him out.

"Bass!" Megaman yelled.

"You!" Bass responded. He had not meant to challenge the blue bomber so soon. He still wanted more power and wouldn't be able to get it without those codes. Those codes which would unlock the hidden part of the Undernet, the very prison of the Forbidden Program. Although its usage was worthless now that Alpha was gone, there was something very powerful deep down in the Undernet, a part where even Bass dared not reach. At least not without the codes. Then he would be able to get down there without much hassle. But those insolent officials never had any clues to the codes! None of them! And Bass had made sure that he had only targeted the top officials who would have a chance knowing about these codes.

The cloaked navi stared down at the blue bomber. For years, Megaman had been defeating him in combat. Well, if he wanted a fight…he was going to get one. Yes, today would be the day of his deletion.

"I wasn't expecting to see you so soon, Megaman. But, program or no program, you have been a thorn in my side for too long. Prepare for your deletion!"

"Megaman, Battle Routine, Set!"

"Execute!"

* * *

"Hell's Rolling!" Bass yelled as several purple wheels made their way toward Megaman.

"Life Aura! Download!" A yellow aura covered Megaman, but immediately faded after a single hit from Bass's attack.

"ProtoCross Activate! Program Advance! AnitRecovery! AntiSword! AntiDamage! BodyGuard!" A whitish aura surrounded Megaman as his body suit changed to form the look of ProtoSoul. He and Lan had been working on getting the crosses from every navi they had Double Souled with in order to become an even more versatile fighting team. So far though, they had only managed to get GutsCross, RollCross, and ProtoCross.

"Dark Arm Blade!" Bass yelled attacking the navi. However, he received ten ninja stars due to the Bodyguard advance. The denizen of the dark roared in anger as he charged with his blade again.

Megaman readied his cyber sword and blocked the attack. But as Bass applied more pressure, the sword cracked. Megaman jumped back to avoid being struck again. ProtoCross would still be useful for its shield and reflect ability.

"Megaman! SuperVulcan! Attack +10!" Megaman right hand turned into a machine gun like weapon and he fired at Bass. The first couple had missed, but Bass made a mistake in reading Megaman's attack and flew into it.

"Now! Program Advance! Fire Blade! Elec Blade! Aqua Blade! Bamboo Blade! Variable Blade! Elemental Wave!"

Megaman's arm turned into a single white blade which he used to fire off four sonic waves, one for each element. Caught off guard, Bass took the impact of each hit dead on.

"Insolent pest! Buster Rake!" Bass floated up on fired several shots at Megaman. As the blue bomber put up his shield, the first shot reflect off. But the second shot cracked it. The shield broke after the third and Megaman took extreme damage from Bass.

"RollCross! Activate! Recover 200! Download." As Megaman got up, his suit changed to that of RollSoul. It wouldn't offer him much offense, but it would at least allow him to gain back some health. A blue aura then glowed around Megaman and he was somewhat healed from the last attack.

"Roll Arrow!" Megaman yelled as he fired. But, Bass simply caught the arrow and it turned into data as he crushed it.

"Pathetic. Darkness Overload!" Bass dropped the purple energy bomb on Megaman.

"AGGH!" Megaman yelled as he was flung backwards.

"Hmphh. Perhaps I didn't need the secrets of the Undernet to delete you. Who knew you would have gotten so weak over the years?"

Megaman struggled to his feet. He could feel his data coming apart. But he had to continue. No matter what. If Bass deleted him, he would not only be the most powerful navi in all the Cyber World, but he would also use his rage against mankind and destroy everything. And Megaman couldn't let that happen.

"Megaman! I'm jacking you out!" Lan yelled.

"No, not yet. Lan, we've got to end this now."

"But, at this rate, you won't have enough energy to survive that much power!

' "We don't have a choice!"

"Megaman, today is your end!" Bass yelled as he summoned another Dark Arm Blade and came barreling towards Megaman.

"Megaman! Program Advance! QuadStyle! DoubleBeast! MultiCross! MasterMerge!" Lan yelled quickly downloading the chips.

Megaman felt a large amount of energy flow into him as he felt himself change into his different style changes. HeatGuts broke the Dark Arm Blade with a punch; ElecTeam shot a zap ring into Bass paralyzing him; WoodShield sent a tornado spiraling towards him; and AquaCustom sent multiple BubbleShots at him.

'_Do you ever think about deletion?'_

As Bass cleared his vision of the bubbles, he quickly pulled his cape in front of him as the GBeast and FBeast attacked. Both the power of Gregar and Falzar, thought to be forgetten, was reawaken momentarily by the power of the DoubleBeast chip. After the attack, Bass's defensive cape was ripped to shreds, completely useless.

'_I can't think of a navi who hasn't once feared for their life.'_

Bass charged a buster shot, ready to end this fight, when he was intercepted by SlashCross. The claws slashed at his buster, causing the weapon to turn back to his hand. He barely had anytime to register that he was actually being beaten apart before EraseCross fired his lasers at him. ElecCross paralyzed him again with an ElecSword. As more and more of Megaman's Crosses attacked, Bass realized something. He had no hope in defeating Megaman. Not when every time his back was against the wall, the blue navi somehow summoned to strength to defeat anyone in his way. Was it his fate to be deleted by this navi?

'_We trust in our NetOps. They love us and we love them. As long as they're alive, and they have a good heart, they won't let us get deleted. It's like having a mortal guardian angel.'_

Was it his operator? Was it his need to save the humans? Was it both? Bass would never figure out. He felt himself breaking apart as the Roll Arrow struck him in his navi mark.

He turned his head towards his delete as he charged up one final attack.

"Goodbye, Bass." As Megaman unleashed all the energy he had been gathering.

Bass looked at the blue bomber as he began to falter to his knees, "See you in the Undernet…Megaman." And then, he was deleted; his data to gather in a deep corner of the Undernet as a navi ghost, just waiting for a challenger.

"We did it, Lan." Megaman said. And then, he blacked out.

* * *

When Megaman woke up, he was aware of a certain pressure on his body. He turned his neck to see what it was and smiled. It was none other than Roll. He tried to more his arm to try and wake her, but he was just so tired. Even to move his head was a lot of energy he didn't want to spend.

"Roll?" He croaked. He tried to clear his throat after it came out rapsy, "Roll?"

The pink navi began to stir as Megaman called her out, "Mega?"

"Hey."

"MEGA!" Roll said, realizing that he was awake, "Guys! He's awake!"

A screen popped up, and suddenly the concerned and relieved faces of Mayl, Lan, and Dr. Hikari came into view.

"Thank goodness! You gave us quite the scare, Hub. I wasn't sure if I could save you're data for a moment." The doctor said smiling at his son.

"Sorry guys, I didn't mean to worry you." Megaman said.

"It's okay. Besides, you did great. You sent Bass packing. This time, I don't think we'll be seeing too much of him anymore." Lan said.

"It's over?" Megaman asked.

"It's over." Mayl replied. Then she turned to Lan, "Oh, and if you dare try and pull a stunt like that again, it's curtains for you." She said, her eyes narrowing. Lan himself may not have been in any real danger; but if Megaman had gotten deleted, no one would have been able to pick up the pieces. And Roll, she would have been destroyed too.

Megaman smiled, before a light slap hit his face, "The same goes for you too mister! Don't you know how worried I was when Mayl corned Lan and he told us what happened!"

Roll looked as though she was about to cry any second, "He came racing back looking for some data for his dad in order to save you. We…I…" The tears came down as she even thought about the idea of losing Megaman.

Megaman felt like a bug frag. He never wanted to be the cause of Roll's distress. He brought himself upright, no matter how much his body ached to not more, and wrapped his arms around her.

"I won't do anything like this without telling you again. You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you. But I just couldn't find the courage to."

"That's why you asked me about deletion and gave me that chip right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I guess you did delete Bass…"

"So, I'm forgiven?"

"Not just yet," Roll said, wiping the tears from her eyes. She pulled the both of them into a kiss. As the broke apart, she spoke, "Now you're forgiven."

"Maybe, I should get in trouble with you more often." He smirked.

"Maybe you should." She said, returning it with a smile.

* * *

So, that's the end. I do have one more Megaman two-shot planned out. But, I'm going to work on Project 7 for a bit before releasing that. The two are going to be very closely related. But, I'll still be releasing one shots and arks for PJO and Megaman Battle Network (I think I have a couple one shots I've been bouncing around in my head, but haven't had time to right them).

Seriously, I love these two universes too much to quit. Plus, writing is one of my favorite pastimes. Next to videogames. They're on the same level. Anyway, thanks for read.

Anyway, feel free to guess the real name of Project 7 (it's actually very easy), and check my page for info regarding it. Project DAC is coming out next week, starting Friday and hopefully during next week I should start writing Project 7. Can't make any promises (the outline looks good though).

Review and most importantly, watch out for BassBX because he's a jerk who steals cyber cookies and laughs at you every time he kills you in MMBN 6 which is often because he abuses his Buster Rake attack every other turn!

...I'm not bitter...just highly annoyed that BassBX is a total spas...Honest.


End file.
